MetaExplorer

"What the ....?" was often the reaction when I talked about my project. So I've taken the criticism to heart, and did NOT:

• explain it in a technical way
• explain what I like about it
• explain Tim Berners-Lee's vision to "normal" people (who don't do web development)
• explain with many metaphors
• show the tool when I'm not present

And instead:

• write some text, re-write it until it's concise
• start each sentence with a word from the previous one
• throw it into https://hemingwayapp.com/ then re-write it, record it, test the recordings with friends who have a direct character
• do sketches for each sentence, test that flow again: https://youtu.be/9OTqjleWQuk
• fill the gaps with more sketches
• do the actual animation

And here it is:
https://youtu.be/iJUnQRw52Ds

Most of my recent videos weren't public, but using video to get feedback has been very successful in my job. Sharing the learnings about that on linkedIn initiated some conversations, and having "video-proof" of the progress is good for the team. It also holds me accountable to continue "vlogging". So in the case of MetaExplorer, it would look like this WIP-video of the landing page. https://youtu.be/8yHRd8ztEgY

"Me programming" isn't the most interesting streaming content on this planet. But because I tried to stream live, I've learned to streamline my video production enough so that I can:

a) do my regular job
b) push progress on metaexplorer
c) shoot a video about that
d) cut & upload a video

on a regular basis.

Most useful productivity infos:

• 🧙 Streamers use "stinger animations" to hide transitions between screens, so no need to shoot long takes, or be afraid of abrupt changes
• 👷 At my regular work I did progress updates by video to practice. Loom's 5-minute limit helps here. So my co-workers got to hear "eerhmm"-s, these videos have less 😉
• Hiring a freelancer for cutting, explicitly giving creative freedom, provided great input
• 🎙️ Sound was the most difficult to get right. Against echo I used foam boards, against electrical interference using a different USB port worked wonders
• 🚮 One "perfect" video was almost done, including 3D Animations and really nice cutting. Then I asked friends for feedback for the video, they said it sounds like I want to sell sweets... So if there's a multi-step process in the production, I'll ask for feedback before the most time-consuming/expensive one. And yes, that "seller"-video is weird, even to myself now, but while working on it I was blind to see that 😉 Friends who give very direct feedback are golden!

Here's the format to produce content on a regular basis, took ~1h of preparation and shooting (it's 1 take only though), ~0.5h of editing, ~0.5h of other related activities. Let me know your feedback!

https://youtu.be/xAh2NKge5LA

The decision to open source was a tough one, mostly because of misconceptions I had about open source and business.

• Besides the service Model and the dual licensing Model there are other business models around open source

• No-one sells software, people sell licenses, or the value it brings to customers. E.g. Amazon Web Services is not about selling linux/databases etc., but about convenience, the fear of downtimes, the wish to use high-tech without having to learn its bells and whistles in depth

• frontend technology is easy to reverse engineer

• I can now show progress in smaller steps, visually, and users can directly play with it. Don't have to sell a "black box"

• I had profited greatly from open source myself, and wanted to even out karma ;-)

• You don't actually "lose" anything by open sourcing